Different Circles

“All right!” the DJ—he went by the handle Big Johnson, which was the subject of endless complaints to the radio station manager from local parents, but the Cal Poly students loved it—said enthusiastically when the song finished. “That was Fuel, by Metallica, the latest from one of the greatest. And speaking of the greatest, we have more new music coming up after the break, something from Matt Tisdale’s latest CD, which will be on sale on June 30^th. Stay with us and give it a listen. You won’t be disappointed.”

A commercial for Central Coast liquor mart then began. It was an appropriately placed advertisement aimed at the hard rock audience who tended to be listening at this hour—namely young working-class people commuting in their cars and college students heading for their morning summer classes.

“Good job, Big Johnson,” Jake said with smile of satisfaction. “You got the plug in before the break.” That had not been required by Jake’s promotion instructions to National. He had just directed that they play Faithless after a commercial break and intro it at that time. Johnson had gone above and beyond.

“That’s a dumb name,” Meghan said with a shake of the head.

“And I bet his Johnson isn’t really that big either,” added Laura.

“I don’t know,” Jake said, pondering. “Those DJs score their share, especially in a college town. You would think you would have to be at least a little bigger than average to declare that’s your name, wouldn’t you? Otherwise, word would get around.”

“How do you know it hasn’t?” Laura asked.

“Well ... I don’t, actually,” he said. He then looked at the nanny. “What’s the word, Meghan? You’re part of the younger crowd. Any rumors floating around about Big Johnson’s Johnson?”

She blushed a little and shook her head. “I don’t really have much of a crowd,” she said. “And the crowd that I do have has never discussed his Johnson.”

Jake laughed and took another bite of his scramble. He chased it with a swig of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee. Laura, meanwhile, was looking at the nanny with a little concern.

“Are you okay, Meghan?” she asked.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“You seem to be squirming around a lot. Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, sure, everything’s fine,” she said quickly, her face flushing a little more. “I guess I’m just restless.”

Laura did not look convinced, but she let it drop. Jake elected to stay out of the issue. He turned his attention to Caydee, who was smearing a mixture of scrambled eggs and pureed squash all over her face.

“Are you getting any of that in your mouth, little girl?” he asked her.

She looked up at him and smiled. She stuck her tongue out and raspberried in his direction, spraying some of the mixture out over her high chair tray and onto the floor.

“I guess she is,” Jake said with a chuckle.

The commercials droned on for the better part of ten minutes and then Big Johnson returned to the air. Jake shushed everyone so he could hear the debut of the tune. All except Caydee obediently quieted down.

“This is the latest from Matt Tisdale here for you on KLBA, Ninety-three Rock,” Johnson told them. “The CD is called Faithless and the rumors you’ve been hearing about it are true. It was produced by none other than Jake Kingsley, Matt’s former partner in crime from the Intemp days, and was engineered by none other than Nerdly and Sharon Archer, also of Intemp fame. That’s right, they were able to work together to record this CD up in Oregon. Could this be the first step in an Intemperance reunion, perhaps? Time will tell. In any case, this song is the title cut of the CD. I give you Faithless on KLBA, Ninety-three Rock!”

Jake frowned a little. He had instructed National to instruct the DJs to intro the song and let the listeners know that he and the Nerdlys had produced and engineered it. He had not asked them to speculate on a possible Intemperance reunion, although he guessed that such speculation was probably inevitable and unstoppable. And who knew? Maybe it would even drive the sales.

The intro to the song began. Though Jake had heard the tune a thousand times or more by this point, he still got that little thrill that came with hearing something he had worked on airing for the first time. He tried to imagine the listeners out there, all of whom really were hearing it for the first time. How did it sound to them?